


The Black Friday Experience

by SpiritMuse



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Shopping, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 09:19:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16807783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritMuse/pseuds/SpiritMuse
Summary: Prompto was nearly vibrating with excitement in the back of the taxi. Ignis had been very resistant to the idea, but he'd finally managed to convince the reserved man to join him (there may or may not have been some shameless use of the Puppy Dog Eyes involved).





	The Black Friday Experience

**Author's Note:**

> So last week on Black Friday the amazing and wonderful [Peach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peach_Pit) posited this idea. I had to write it out, and well... I guess it's finished. XD

Prompto was nearly vibrating with excitement in the back of the taxi. Ignis had been very resistant to the idea, but he'd finally managed to convince the reserved man to join him (there may or may not have been some shameless use of the Puppy Dog Eyes involved). Ignis had insisted on a taxi, though, as parking space would probably be impossible to find, and no amount of Prompto's arguing that driving around endlessly looking for a space was part of the experience had been enough to change his mind. But it was a concession that Prompto was willing to make.

After all, the Black Friday sale happened only once a year.

A few days before, Prompto had found out that Ignis had never gone out on a Black Friday in his life. He preferred a more, in his words, 'dignified' style of bargain shopping - that is to say, online, from the comfort of home.

But Prompto loved going out there in person. There was nothing quite like that rush of adrenaline from being in the middle of a frothing crowd, the danger of being trampled terrifyingly real. Or the high that came with finding that _perfect_ deal.

So he'd done everything he could to convince Ignis to come along, to share the experience at least once, and now here they were, getting out of their taxi on one of the main shopping streets of Insomnia.

Ignis still looked a little hesitant, scanning the crowds around them warily. Prompto grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the first store.

"Come on! Let's get started! No time to waste!"

They'd made something of a plan beforehand, mostly at Ignis' insistence. A shortlist of the kind of items they would be going after, so they could coordinate. Sort of. Maybe. Prompto had insisted on plenty of flexibility - coming across random deals was an important part of the Black Friday Experience, after all.

They quickly fell into a kind of routine as they shopped - Prompto would rush ahead, flitting from deal to deal, checking out what was on sale, grabbing what he was interested in while Ignis trailed after him or hovered over his shoulder, carrying most of their purchases (he'd insisted on it so that Prompto's hands would be free).

At first Ignis had tried to argue with Prompto about the necessity of some of the more random purchases ("Do you really need three of the exact same shirt?" "But it's _70% off_ , Iggy!" "Why are you eyeing that Roomba, we have a perfectly serviceable vacuum cleaner." "But it's _so cool_ , Iggy! It'll be like having a robot pet!"), but as time went on he protested less and less. He did put his foot down when Prompto spotted a fully equipped barbecue set (firmly reminding Prompto that their apartment didn't have a garden, and no, their balcony would _not_ be big enough), though he relented when Prompto found an amazing deal on a giant wall-mounted tv, including free delivery to their apartment ("We will have the _best_ movie nights, Iggy! _The! Best!_ ")

When they reached the camera equipment store he mostly just let Prompto do his thing - cameras were his domain, after all. And when they got to _The Happy Kitchen_ Ignis even got in on the action himself, tracking down a deal on a set of those new style granite surface skillets of various sizes. It was shaping up to be an excellent day.

They had decided to take lunch relatively early, but when they reached the food court it was obvious there had never been any hope of beating the crowd. It was as busy there as everywhere else. It was glorious.

Prompto scanned the area and spotted a table where a couple of guys and women looked like they were starting to leave, and he immediately speeded towards it. He hovered around not at all awkwardly while they packed up their things and he sat down at the table the moment the last of them got up. Ignis, in the mean time, was in line to buy them lunch as per their pre-decided battle plan.

After what seemed like way too long Ignis finally joined him, bringing with him a tray with a couple of drinks and two flat triangular cardboard boxes from _Piece a Pizza_ , at Prompto's insistence.

When Ignis settled in at their table, though, Prompto immediately spotted an important problem. 

"Iggy," Prompto said.

"What is it, love?" Ignis asked, and took a sip of his drink.

"The bags," Prompto said, "Don't put them by the side of the chair! Put them under the table so we can guard them with our legs!"

"Why would we need to do that?" Ignis looked confused.

"Thieves, Iggy," Prompto said as he leaned over conspiratorially, "Days like this are full of pickpockets, and you never know how far any fellow shoppers are prepared to go."

"Has that ever actually happened to you?" Ignis said, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"...No," Prompto admitted, "But you never know!" he insisted.

"Very well," Ignis said with an indulgent smile and moved the bags as requested. Prompto shifted the tray towards Ignis, taking his own food off it. Eating off the tray was also part of The Experience, and he wanted Ignis to have the full effect.

Only minutely raising an eyebrow at the tray, Ignis opened the pizza box in front of him. He looked at the contents so dubiously that Prompto couldn't help but laugh.

"Come on Iggy, you're acting like it's poison!"

Ignis raised a delicate eyebrow. 

"It's so greasy it might as well be," he said disdainfully.

Prompto only laughed harder.

"Come on, you can afford one day of terrible food," he chuckled, "Besides, it's all part of The Experience."

"If you say so." Ignis seemed unconvinced. He delicately picked up the thick, greasy slice of Super Three Cheese Pizza and took a bite. Prompto grabbed his own and was happy to find it still tasted exactly like he remembered. The taste of excitement, of the thrills of Black Friday. When he glanced up to see Ignis' reaction, he noticed him frowning.

"'s up?" Prompto asked with his mouth full.

Ignis frowned more as he chewed thoughtfully, then finally swallowed.

"It's... actually surprisingly good," Ignis admitted, clearly chagrined by the notion.

"Told you!" Prompto grinned.

"Don't think this means I'll be making anything like this at home," Ignis said with a warning Look.

"Awww," Prompto whined unconvincingly, "But it's so good!" 

Ignis just continued to give Prompto the Look.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Prompto relented without much regret, "It wouldn't be the same at home without that Black Friday atmosphere, anyway," he grinned.

They finished their lunch without further incident, after which Prompto lead them back into the frenzied crowds.

Now that it was properly afternoon it started getting even busier, and the crowds rowdier as stores started running out of items, small scuffles breaking out every so often about the last one of something or other. But even as Prompto heartily participated in those (not particularly caring if he lost), he always made sure to be extra nice to the actual salespeople. He'd been on that side of the counter before and he knew how rude people could be. Besides, not like getting angry and yelling at people would suddenly make things be not-sold out. 

When Prompto looked around to find Ignis because he wanted his input on this air fryer he'd found, he didn't see him around. It wasn't the first time they'd lost sight of each other - Ignis was very good at keeping up with him but every now and then the crowds would force them apart. Between Ignis' height and Prompto's blond hair, though, it didn't usually take them very long to find each other again. 

This time, however, Ignis was nowhere in sight. He tried to retrace their steps, maybe Ignis had gotten distracted looking at something himself, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Eventually, Prompto sent him a text asking him where he was.

After a minute more of fruitless searching, he got a single word reply. 

' _Outside._ '

Prompto quickly made his way to the exit and found Ignis just outside the store, casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, shopping bags at his feet. 

"Hey," he said, "I'd lost you in there."

"My apologies," Ignis replied, "I just wanted a bit of fresh air." But something wasn't quite right - he looked unusually pale, and his smile seemed a little strained.

"Are you ok?" Prompto asked, starting to get a little concerned.

"I'm fine," Ignis said with another strained smile.

Prompto wasn't buying it. Ignis was very good at hiding things, so Prompto had painstakingly learned the signs. But right now he didn't even need those special skills, Ignis was being so obvious. Which meant it must be bad.

"Dude, you're not fooling anyone right now, what's wrong?"

Ignis sighed and closed his eyes. "I... dislike crowds," he admitted. Prompto noticed his breathing was a little jagged.

That wasn't a good sign.

"I think it's a bit more than 'dislike'," Prompto said, "You kinda look like you're about to have a panic attack or something."

Ignis met Prompto's eyes for a moment before looking away uncomfortably. "I suppose I am rather closer to one than I would like," he admitted quietly.

"Why didn't you say something?" Prompto asked.

"I didn't want to spoil your fun," Ignis said with a crooked smile, "Besides, I wasn't expecting it to get quite this bad myself. I had hoped leaving the store would help, but..."

Prompto sighed. Ignis was impossible sometimes. He leaned in and softly pressed a kiss to his lips. "Hey," he said fondly when he pulled back and looked into Ignis' eyes, "Tell me these things, okay? _Before_ it gets this bad. It's just me, you don't have to pretend."

"Yes... ok. I'll try," Ignis said, surprisingly without argument, and let himself sag against the wall a little instead of just leaning. When he glanced at Prompto there was clear anxiety in his eyes. He looked so lost, so miserable and small.

Prompto had never seen Ignis like this before. It flipped some kind of switch inside him and all of a sudden he was feeling stronger, more confident. Ignis _needed_ him. It was his turn to be the strong one now, his turn to take care of Ignis, the way that Ignis did for him when he was feeling bad.

"You wanna go home?" Prompto asked gently, though it wasn't really a question.

"I..." Ignis hesitated, "Yes," he admitted quietly.

"Alright," Prompto said, "There's just one more store I need to go to. Is that okay? You don't have to come in with me, and we'll leave straight after."

Ignis nodded wordlessly.

They picked up their bags and Ignis followed Prompto to one last store, just a little ways down the street. He waited outside on a miraculously free bench while Prompto went in, promising to be as quick as he could. Ignis tried to people-watch to pass the time, but he found he didn't really have the attention span for it anymore. His skin was crawling, his whole body feeling restless. He realised he was tapping his feet nervously. He tried to stop and focus on his breathing, trying to bring down this blasted anxiety. It wasn't working terribly well. And on top of everything else he felt awful about having to cut their day short. 

After what seemed like an eternity Prompto came back out, carrying a bag holding a large box. Ignis couldn't tell what it was. It looked pretty heavy, but when Ignis offered to carry it he declined, even taking some of the bags off Ignis instead.

Together, they walked down to the end of the pedestrian area, Prompto mercifully leading them away from crowds as much as possible. After a minute or so, a taxi arrived to pick them up - Prompto must have arranged it while inside the store.

Inside the taxi, Prompto's hand quickly found Ignis'. The contact was somewhat grounding, though not nearly enough to dispel Ignis' current level of anxiety. He held on tightly. Probably rather more tightly than was comfortable for Prompto, but he never gave any indication of such.

When they reached home and were inside safely, Ignis finally relaxed a little. Though he was still far from feeling like himself again, still very restless and frazzled. So he did the only thing he could think of to try and set himself straight - start organising things.

He picked up the bag from the kitchen shop, pulled out his new pans and started to remove the cardboard protecting them as he walked into the kitchen.

"Prompto, could you take the bag with clothes to the bedroom?" he said, "And hang up the pieces that need to be hung if you please. Oh, and we'll need to clear out space on the wall for that television-" before he was finished speaking, he felt warm hands covering his own, gently taking them away from their task.

"We don't have to unpack any of this right now, Iggy," Prompto said softly beside him, "It can wait. Just relax."

"How many times have I been told that in my life..." Ignis sputtered with a sigh, suddenly feeling out of his element again.

Prompto just smiled softly, his hands comfortingly warm around Ignis'.

"Just take off your jacket and shoes, then go sit down and make yourself comfortable, ok?"

Ignis sighed. It was hard to deny Prompto anything, even when he did have the energy to try. Though if he were honest the clear instructions were somewhat soothing to his fraying nerves. So he did as he was told, obediently removing his jacket and shoes before sitting down on their large and comfortable sofa. Meanwhile, Prompto was busy with their shopping in the hallway, out of sight of Ignis.

"I thought we didn't need to unpack anything?" Ignis asked.

"Just this one thing," Prompto said, "Only one we need right now. Don't worry, I can take care of it, you just stay there."

So Ignis did. And he tried to relax as Prompto had said, but he wasn't really all that successful - fidgeting with his ring, bouncing his knee, and his breathing wouldn't quite calm. It would take a good while before it would all settle down again. He hated it.

Eventually, Prompto came into the living room carrying an unfamiliar, lavender coloured blanket. It looked thick, with some kind of quilted pattern and hung down his arm heavily. Prompto dropped it near Ignis by the big sofa, and grabbed their heated blanket from the other one.

"What are you doing?" Ignis asked.

Prompto fiddled with the settings on the blanket before bringing it over back to Ignis.

"Lie down," Prompto instructed.

Ignis blinked, then did as he was told, stretching out his legs and making himself comfortable. Prompto draped the heated blanket over him. It was set on a medium setting, warm but not overly so. Ignis shivered a little - he hadn't quite realised how cold he still was. He pulled it a little more tightly around him.

Meanwhile Prompto had picked up the lavender quilted blanket. He held it up, then carefully draped it across Ignis, over the top of the other blanket.

This new blanket was heavy. Very heavy. It pressed down on every part of Ignis' body, and he shifted a little to find the most comfortable position. 

The deep pressure was a revelation. Combined with the warmth, it felt rather a lot like being hugged from all sides at once. A sigh escaped him as he slowly felt his body almost forced to relax.

"What's this?" he asked Prompto, who was looking down at him with warm violet eyes.

"It's a weighted blanket," Prompto explained as he sat down on the edge of the sofa, "It's supposed to help with anxiety and relaxing and sleep and stuff, I've been wanting one for a while but the really good ones are like super expensive."

"It... is rather nice," Ignis said, starting to feel rather warm and content.

"It better be, I had to bodycheck someone for it!" Prompto said with a grin.

"Prompto..." Ignis didn't have to elaborate for Prompto to understand his concern.

"Don't worry," Prompto said, still smiling, "It was only about the color. There were plenty of them left, I'm sure they got theirs."

Mollified, Ignis allowed himself to completely succumb to the effects of the blankets. He was amazed at how quickly it all had made his anxiety melt away. He simply felt too warm and comfortable to be anxious anymore. He closed his eyes and sighed softly, a small noise of contentment escaping him.

He heard Prompto chuckle. "Is it that good?"

Ignis simply nodded. He shifted a little to try and stop his spectacles uncomfortably digging into his skin. He needed to remove them, really, but he couldn't quite find the energy to wrestle his arms from under that wonderfully heavy cover. He looked up at Prompto, who was still sat there, looking at him with that soft look in his eyes that only Ignis ever got to see.

"I... my spectacles, would you mind...?" Ignis asked hesitantly - he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed at asking for help with such a trivial thing.

"Sure thing," Prompto gently took hold of his spectacles, and Ignis obediently closed his eyes while they were pulled off. It was unexpectedly difficult to open his eyes again. 

"Better?"

Ignis nodded.

"I'm sorry your trip got cut short because of me," he said, starting to feel the pang of guilt now that the overwhelming anxiety was gone.

"Hey, you've got nothing to apologise for," Prompto tried to reassure him, "If anyone is to blame here it's me. If I'd known how badly it would affect you I wouldn't have been so demanding about you coming along."

Ignis smiled tiredly. Such a matching pair they were - always ready to take responsibility and blame, even when it wasn't strictly necessary.

"It's alright," he said, "I underestimated it myself. But I enjoyed seeing you have fun out there."

"Heh, I guess," Prompto smiled slightly crookedly, "I mean it though," he added earnestly, "I'll go by myself again next year, no problem."

"Let's leave that discussion til then, shall we?" Ignis said but found the last words disappearing into a yawn.

"Getting a little sleepy under there, huh?" Prompto chuckled.

"Just a bit," Ignis mumbled apologetically.

"It's ok, it's been an exhausting day. Go have a nap if you need to. I'll wake you up for dinner."

Prompto gently kissed his cheek, and tenderly ran his fingers through Ignis' hair. Ignis gave up trying to keep his eyes open. He was exhausted, the blankets were so warm and comfortable, and the hand in his hair was so soothing... He slowly started drifting away.

Prompto kept gently running his fingers thought Ignis' hair until that subtle change in his breathing told him that Ignis had finally fallen asleep. He quietly got up and looked at his peacefully sleeping fiancé. It had felt like a bit of a gamble, going into that last store when Ignis had already been far past wanting to go home. But getting that blanket had turned out to be the best decision he could have made.

He softly padded into the kitchen where the abandoned half-unpacked pans were still sitting on the counter. He quietly finished unpacking them. He wasn't going to use them just yet - Ignis would want to be the first - but he wanted to get them squared away and make space. He'd promised Ignis dinner, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. <3
> 
> (PS: The following year they do decide to go together again, except Ignis only stays until lunch, taking home their purchases from the morning. The rest of the afternoon Prompto sends him pictures of all the things he sees and wants to buy so he can still be kinda there. <3)


End file.
